Connecticut Hit By a Tornado, Hail and Floods

By BARBARA STEWART

Published: July 5, 1996

Scores of residents in the south-central Connecticut towns of Wolcott and Waterbury spent yesterday's holiday stretching plastic over caved-in roofs and clearing splintered trees from houses and porches after a tornado cut a swath through the towns on Wednesday morning.

No one was reported injured, but the storm knocked down trees and tore off roofs, including a hefty section over the Wilby High School gym in Waterbury. It blew through the school's football field, shattering the scoreboard and bleachers and dropping the pieces a half-mile away. Damage to the school was estimated at $1 million. The wind also smashed windows in several nearby elementary schools and homes.

The tornado touched down in Waterbury between 6:30 and 7 A.M. Wednesday and left a path 1,500 feet long and 300 feet wide, said Gary Lessor, assistant director of the Weather Center of Western Connecticut State University. It touched down again at the high school in Waterbury, and then in Wolcott, traveling about eight miles, he said.

Besides the tornado, many smaller storms spread in all directions, drenching much of the state with heavy rains and flash flooding late Wednesday night and early yesterday morning. Throughout Connecticut, dozens of lightning bolts struck trees and houses and hailstones as big as Ping-Pong balls fell.

The approximately 100-mile-an-hour winds of Wednesday's tornado and storms damaged electricity lines, leaving some 7,000 residents in 35 towns -- including 4,500 in Wolcott -- without power for eight hours, said Bruno Ranniello, a spokesman for Northeast Utilities.

About 100 houses in Wolcott, which has 14,000 residents in 23 square miles, were damaged, some heavily. In Waterbury, far fewer homes were damaged, said Capt. Joe Cass of the Waterbury police. The roads in both towns were cleared in time for the holiday by town crews and volunteers, he said.

The chill and light rain lingered yesterday, putting a damper on the Fourth's picnics and fireworks shows. "I'm looking outside and the clouds are dark gray and light gray," Captain Cass said.